artist
Francesco Clemente
birth
Naples, Italy, 1952
last update
19-11-2025

Francesco Clemente began studying architecture in Rome but gave it up to dedicate himself to painting and drawing. A member of the Transavantguardia, a movement that marked a return to figuration during the 1980s, his work was also influenced by his travels to Afghanistan, India and Japan. His paintings focus on the human body, often in the form of self-portraits or portraits, and always with references to eroticism and spirituality. Using bright colours, Clemente addresses Eastern symbologies, cultures and mystical traditions, as well as the alchemical tradition. He often says that he shares with this tradition the will to 'spiritualise matter and materialise the spirit.'

Since the early 1980s, Clemente has had numerous solo exhibitions in venues such as the, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1983; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1984; Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1984; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1986; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1991; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1994; Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1994; Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 2002; Gagosian Gallery, London, 2005. Major retrospectives include Guggenheim Museum, New York and Bilbao, 1999–2000; and Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, Germany, 2003. His work is included in collections such as Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and MACBA, Barcelona, among many others.

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The texts of the MACBA web draw on previous documentation. Please let us know if you find any errors.

works

11 results
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[1087_001_rgb / Imatge] Nr 13
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Circolo
1977
Francesco Clemente
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Autoritratto mercuriale
1985
Francesco Clemente
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[1084_001_rgb / Imatge] Nr 5
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Nr 11
1985
Francesco Clemente
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Nr 8
1985
Francesco Clemente
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Nr 17
1985
Francesco Clemente
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Nr 19
1985
Francesco Clemente
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Nr 22
1985
Francesco Clemente
see detail
Nr 21
1985
Francesco Clemente
see detail
[0326_001_rgb / Imatge] Autoritratto con la memoria
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OBRA TITLE
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[1087_001_rgb / Imatge] Nr 13
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Circolo
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Autoritratto mercuriale
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[1084_001_rgb / Imatge] Nr 5
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Nr 11
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Nr 8
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Nr 17
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Nr 19
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Nr 22
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Nr 21
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[0326_001_rgb / Imatge] Autoritratto con la memoria
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documents

50 results
Rembrandt / Jean Genet
document
1988
A03258
Satie, Ravel, Poulenc / Manuel Rosenthal ; preface by Virgil Thomson
document
1987
A03259
Yes no : poems & sayings / by Francis Picabia ; translated by Rémy Hall
document
1990
A03380
Picasso / by David Hockney
document
1990
A03424
Confused dream / by Sandro Penna ; translated by George Scrivani
document
1988
A03302
Candy Darling / Candy Darling
document
1992
A03499
Clemente, Voznesensky : First Gallery, Moscow 1991
document
1991
A03546
The lie of the truth : and other parables from The way of liberation / by René Daumal ; translated by Phil Powrie
document
1989
A03503
Francesco Clemente : ex libris, Madras 1944
document
1995
A03600
Historical treasures / Jack Smith ; edited by Ira Cohen
document
1990
A03385
On my painting / by Max Beckmann ; [edited by George Scrivani]
document
1988
A03504
Bread and water : stories / by Eileen Myles
document
1987
A03432
On the Lord's Prayer / St. Teresa of Avila, Simone Weil ; [texts selected and assembled by William MacKay]
document
1990
A03286
Painting & guns / William S. Burroughs
document
1992
A03288
Fan mail, frank letters, and crank calls / by Cookie Mueller
document
1988
A03289
Oriental metaphysics / by René Guénon ; with and introduction by René Daumal
document
1989
A03388
Son of Andy Warhol : volume four, excerpts from the anonymous diary of a New York youth / by Taylor Mead
document
1986
A03501
Guilty of everything / Herbert Huncke
document
1987
A03427
Mind field / by Gregory Corso
document
1989
A03383
Cabal of zealots / by Vincent Katz
document
1988
A03502
Willem de Kooning / by Edwin Denby
document
1988
A03384
Idiot's delight / Robert Hunter
document
1992
A03428
One hour / Robert Frank
document
1992
A03430
Woolgathering / Patti Smith
document
1992
A03505
By surprise / Henri Michaux ; translated by Randolph Hough
document
1987
A03387
Safe in heaven dead : interviews with Jack Kerouac / compiled and edited by Michael White
document
1994
A03425
Firbankiana : being a collection of reminiscences of Ronald Firbank
document
1989
A03381
Conjugal contraries and quart / John Wieners
document
1987
A03500
Who knows : poems and aphorisms / by Francis Picabia ; translated by Remy Hall
document
1986
A03284
Views without rooms / by Elaine Equi
document
1989
A03287
A Fundamental experiment / René Daumal ; translated by Roger Shattuck
document
1987
A03338
Feminine hijinx / Dodie Bellamy
document
1990
A03341
November / David Trinidad
document
1986
A03340
Bleed, part one / Nick Zedd
document
1992
A03290
Fools of God / by Alain Daniélou ; translated by David Rattray
document
1988
A03342
Primitive man / Amy Gerstler
document
1987
A03293
Three stories / by David Trinidad
document
1988
A03345
A Superficial estimation / John Wieners
document
1986
A03297
White trash boulevard / Gary Indiana
document
1988
A03256
The ice storm / John Ashbery
document
1987
A03299
Autobiography / Robert Creeley
document
1990
A03257
The collected writings of Willem de Kooning / [edited by George Scrivani]
document
1988
A03422
The black book / Francesco Clemente
document
1991
A03545
Saved! : the gospel speeches of Bob Dylan ; [text edited by Clinton Heylin]
document
1990
A03423
Pouf pieces / by Beauregard Houston-Montgomery
document
1990
A03344
Looking at pictures / Henry Geldzahler
document
1990
A03347
1969 / by Eileen Myles
document
1989
A03300
Artifact : notebooks from Hell, 1974-80 / by Richard Hell
document
1990
A03291
Your reason and Blake's system / by Allen Ginsberg
document
1988
A03498
Francesco Clemente : pastels, 1980
document
1986
A03632